Water-meter.



No. 783,485. PATENTED PEB. 2s, 1905. J. THOMSON.

WATER METER.

APPLICATION FILED 0UT.19, 1903.

raro. "rasees,

Patented February 28, 1905.

PATENT JOHN THOMSON, OF NlGl/V YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO NlGPTU NE MEIER OMlANY, OF NEN YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF N lill'l JERSEY.

WATER-METER.

SPECJE'JFICATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 783,485, dated February 28, 1905.

Application filed October 19, 1903. Serial No. 177,621.

To all urli/om it may concern:

Be it known that l, JoHN'lHoMsoN, a citizen oi the United States, residing in the borough of l\/lanhattan, in the city oll New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and uselul Improvemi-mts in Water-Meters, of which the followingis a specilication.

This invention has particular relation to water-meters, and in the accompanying' drawings, .forming a part hereof, Figure l is a View, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, oi' a water-meter embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a lbottom plan view of the meter shown in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a detail view ot the bottom or inclosing head for the main casing. Fig. 4 is a detail view ot the bracket or spider for supporting the internal diskchamber casing. Fig. 5 isa view of thelower portion ot a water-meter of the general construction shown in Fig. 1, the upper part being broken away, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, embodying' a modiiication o'lI certain parts. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a modiiied form of the bracket or spider for supporting the internal disk-chamber casing; and Fig. 7 is a detail vertical sectional view, partly broken away, of the screw provided with weakened threads.

lt is well known that water when frozen increases in volume and that the expansion due to the transformation is practically irresistible. The result is that when water freezes in a closed vessel the vessel will be likely to be destroyed unless some provision is made to save the essential or operative parts thereof under the stress, as by providing some part designedly made to yield or break when the stress exceeds that which the part designed to yield will normally withstand.

The meter shown in the accompanying drawings is a disk water-meter, and, referring to Figs. l, 2, 3, and 4f, A is the main or outer casing. li is the lower inclosing head or bottorn thereof. O is the internal casing ordisku chamber,made in two parts and containing the nutating-disk. l) is the spindle attached to the ball oi' the disk. E is the arm which is connected to the sha'lt, `forming a part of the registering mechanism located within the oute1 inclosing case A above the disk-chamber C, the registering mechanism not being' shown. F is the hinged cover inclosing the dial and pointers. (Not shown.) (if is the inlet-port, and .ll the outlet-port, ot' the meter, and l is the usual screen for excluding' `from the meter foreign matter. The shape oi the bottom B is preferably circular, although, as will be understood, the bottom may be ot' any other desired shape, and this bottom is lirmly secured to the outer casing A by the bolts J and washers K and in a watertight manner by means of the perpendicular upwardly-pro jecting annular `l'lange L, which impinges upon the gasket M, and the overturned outwardlyprojecting iiange N ot' the main casing, forming the seat for the gasket. The bottom B has a central orilice or aperture O, which is spanned by a strip or bridge-piece ll, made integral with .the bottom, or which bridge-piece may be a separate piece therefrom. The oriiice O in the bottom is closed by the inclosing piece or plug R, which is securely held in position by the screw S, which screw passes into and through an opening T in the bridge-piece l), and the joint between the plug R and the bottom B is rendered water-tight by means of the gasket V, with which the plug lt im pinges, holding it to its seat formed therefor in the bottom B, as clearly shown in Fig. l. A washer or gasket V is also inserted under the head of the screw S. The bottom B is provided with feetf, as many in number as desired, three being shown in the drawings, (see Fig. 2,) and the meter in its normal position is designed to stand on said feet, as shown in Fig. 1. ln order to support the disk-chamber casing C and to hold it to its seat W on the inside of the main casing, a bracket or spider Y is provided preferably of the construction sho wn in Fig. a. This bracket or spider is provided with a central opening Z, into which opening the inner end of the screw S passes for the purpose of holding the support centrally in position. The support Y is formed with any desired number ol radial arms u, AFour being shown in Fig. 4, and these radial arms are resilient Yfor the purpose to be presently explained. The position and arrangement of the several parts when in normal operative condition are shown in Fig. l, and it will be seen that in the construction there shown the radial arms rt of the support Y extend nearly to the circumference of the bottom of the internal casing C, furnishing thereby a large support for the disk-chamber; but'l desire it to be understood that my invention is not limited to the particular construction of the resilient supporting member of the disk-chamber shown in the drawings and hereinbefore described, nor that the supporting member shall spread across the entire bottom of the disk-chamber, the essential function of the supporting member being` that it shall furnish an adequate support for the disk-chamber casing. The gasket M is not designed to,

but it may, project inwardly over the fiange L; but if this gasket should project thereover the disk-chamber casing in that event would rest upon the gasket to a slight extent, as well as upon the supporting member. The bridge-piece P of the bottom B is provided on its inner surface with a central stud 71, upon which stud the support Y is rested and positioned there centrally by means of the end of the screw S passing through the opening Z in the support, as heretofore described. The central openingl` in the bridge-piece P is provided with a female thread, and the shank of the screw S is provided for a portion of its distance with a male thread, which engages with the female thread in the openingT of the bridge-piece P, as clearly shown in Fig. l. The outer surface of the plug R is slightly recessed or countersunk to receive the head of the screw, as also shown in Fig. l. In order tol save the operative parts of the meter from destruction in the event the water within the meter should freeze, the shank of the screw S is weakened, preferably by forming a weakening-groove a in its shank between the head of the screw and the threaded portion of the shank, as shown in Fig. l, the screw being designed to yieldlor break at the weakened groove c under the expansive force of the freezing water, thus permitting the plug R to drop away from the bottom B, and thereby afford the requisite relief to the excessive interior pressure.

In practical use of the meter shown in Fig. l the upper portion of the outer inclosing case above the disk-chamber would contain water, the lower portion of the outer inclosing case would contain water,including the space below the bottom of the disk-chamber surrounding the supporting-bracket, and the disk-chamber itself would contain water, and .the space below the bridge-piece l), between it and the plug R, would also contain water. All of the parts of the meter, including the weakened screw S, would be designed to withstand the ordinary pressures of service-such as hydrostatic head, water-ram, and the like; but

the weakened screw S would be designed to yield under excessive pressure,such as that due to the freezing of the contained water. It is of course not possible to definitely state in advance the exact manner of freezing or the location within the meter where the freezing would first take place under all circumstances of service; but no matter where the freezing occurs or whether it proceeds progressively from all parts of the meter interior whenever the pressure within the meter becomes greater than the meter is designed normally to withstand this excessive pressure will travel in the direction of least resistance-to wit, in the structure shown in the direction toward the weakened screw S and will fracture such screw at its weakened point, as the grooved portion c, and thereby afford the requisite relief to the pressure. lf, for example, the entire body of the water within the meter should have frozen with the relief of pressure consequent upon the rupture of the weakened screw S, the disk-chamber casing will have been forced away from its seat lV by the pressure of the ice above it and the diskchamber casing will also have separated into its two component parts at the line of separation (Z by the pressure of the ice within it, and the ice will flow through the orifice in the bottom B produced when the screw S has ruptured and let the plug R drop away from the bottom B and the disk-chamber and the supporting-bracket will also move with the moving or flowing of the ice, and under some circumstances a plug of ice will protrude through the orifice in the bottom. If the entire quantity of the water within the meter shall, however, not have become frozen, but yet the pressure be too great, then when the weakened screw S breaks, permitting the plug R to fall away from the orifice, the water within the meter will run out of the orifice O, thus affording the requisite relief and permitting the ice to flow and accommodate itself within the meter-casings.

In the construction shown in Fig. l before the pressure has become great enough to rupture the screw S should ice be formed above the disk or within the disk-chamber C in advance of the freezing of the water in the space below the bottom of the disk-chamber the expension due to such freezing within or above the disk-chamber will deflect the resilient arms t of the supporting-bracket Y, permitting the disk-chamber to separate and move bodily downward with the movement of the ice. Vhen the ice has melted within the diskchamber casing and above it, the resilient arms t will retroact and unite again the two parts of the separable disk-cham ber and move the same bodily upward, restoring it to its seat.

In the construction of the various parts of the meter shown in Fig. l l prefer to make the outer inclosing casing or main case A of IOO IIO

veaaes composition metal which will possess a high y degree of tenacity and iexibility, the diskchamber casing C of bronze, the supportingbracket Y of ductile composition or spring metal, the bottom B of cast-iron or low-grade brass, and the screw S of bronze composition or steel.

From the foregoing it will be observed that in the event of freezing none of the essential operative parts of the meter will be damaged, and the only consequence of such freezing will be to fracture the preweakened screw S, and in order to restore the meter to its operative condition again it will only be necessary to furnish a new screw S, remove the threaded portion of the shank of thefbroken screw from its socket, and reassemble the parts, securely uniting them together by the new screw in the manner hereinbefore explained.

I do not limit myself to any particular dimension or size of oriiice in the bottom B, for it is obvious that the relative size of this orilice will depend in some measure upon the character of metals of which the several parts of the meter are composed. When the several parts are made of the metals hereinbefore referred to, I have found that the relative area of orifice shown in Fig. l is entirely adequate to afl'ord the requisite relief.

Referring to Figs. 6, and 7, the general arrangement of the parts heretofore described in connection with Figs. 1, 2, 3, and LL are the same in the meter shown in Fig. 5, the parts in Figs. 5, 6, and 7 corresponding to the parts in Figs. l, 2, 3, and 4, being' similarly lettered. 1n the meter shown 1n Fig. 5 the 1nternal easing of the chamber is supported by the supporting spider or bracket Y, provided with the radial arms a, and the parts are se* curcly held together by the weakened screw S, as hereinbefore explained in connection with Figs. l, 2, 3, and t. The supporting member Yis also preferably made of ductile composition, and the radialarms t are each provided with an upwardly-extending flange g, upon .which the chamber-casing immediately rests, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. rlhe under side of the supporting-bracket Y is provided with a central recess t, into which lits the inner end of the screw S for the purpose of holding the supporting-bracket Y disposed centrally in position. While in the case of the meter shown in Fig. l the weakened screw S is provided with a weakening-groove c, in the ineter shown in Fig. 5 the screw is weakened by weakening the threads preferably in the manner as shown in Fig. 7, the consequence being that when the pressure within the meter becomes greater than the screw is normally designed to withstand the threads on the screw S will be stripped therefrom, the thread of the socketin the bridge-piece l) remaining intact, thereby permitting the plug R to fall away and afford the requisite relief, as hereinbefore explained in connection with the meter shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4. All that will be necessary to do in order to restore the meter to its normal operative condition will be to reassemblc the parts and securely unite them together by means of a new screw whose thread is weakened, as just explained.

What l have heretofore stated with reference to the area of the orifice in the bottom B in connection with the meter shown in Fig. l is applicable to the meter shown in Fig. 5.

As stated before, this invention has particular relation to water-meters and was devised primarily for use in connection with watermeters; but I do not limit my invention for use in connection with water-meters per se, for my invention may be applied to other structures, and therefore in the claims hereinafter following, while 1 claim my invention as applied to water-meters, yet l desire it to be understood that I use the term H water-i'netei to include not only water-meters per se, but all analogous and other structures to which my invention may be applied.

What 'il claim as my invention is 1. In a watersmeter the combination with a main casing, of an internal casing, an inclosing head for the main casing, an orilice in said inelosing head, a bridge-piece on said inclosing head and spanning the orifice therein, means to close said orifice, a screw to unite said closing means to said bridge, said screw beingl adapted to yield under excessive interior pressure, substantially as and for the pur pose set forth.

2. In a water-meter the combination with a main casing, of an internal casing, an inclosing head for the main casing, an orifice in said inclosingI head, a bridge-piece on said inclosing head and spanning the orifice therein, means to support the internal casing resting upon said inelosing head, means to close the orifice in said inclosing head, and a screw to unite said closing means to said inclosing head, said screw being adapted to yield under excessive interior pressure, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

ln a water-meter the combination with a main casing, of an internal casing, an inclosing head for the main casing, an orilice in said inclosing head, a bridge-piece on said inclosing head spanning said orifice, a support for the internal casing resting upon said bridgepiece, a plug to close said orifice and a weakened screw to unite said plug to said bridgepiece, the inner end of said screw engaging with and furnishing a centering for the support for the internal casing, said screw being adapted to yield under excessive interior pressure, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a water-meter the combination with a main casing, of an internal casing, an inclosing head for the main easing, an oriiice in said inclosing head, a bridge on said inclosing head IOC This specification signed and witnessed this 5th day of October, A. D. 1903.

JOHN THOMSON.

In presence of ALFRED W. KIDDLE,

purpose set forth. i A. N. JESBERA. 

